Day 20: Hearing the Heart of God! 

(Part 1)

Overview of both the Major and Minor Prophets: Hosea, Amos, Obadiah, Nahum, Jonah

Introduction:

As I look back through the whole Old Testament, I am struck again by three dominant thoughts:

  • 1.      Life is a struggle. Life was hard. Life is pain. For most people, things did not come easy. And while it’s true that life was full of both defeats and victories, times of plenty and times of lack, the struggle to survive was usually the norm. Despite all the seasons of life, and all the different eras—whether good or bad—God was still sovereign and having His way. His will is like a giant tidal wave that nothing can stop. It sweeps up everything before it: the good, the bad, and the indifferent. Everything is carried along to its final climactic end at the end of days.
  • 2.      We have a choice. We can choose to be swept away or attempt to flow with what God is doing. Imagine God’s purpose as a wave—He wants you to ride that wave. It’s your job to body surf it and ride it as far as you can. One of God’s prophets, Jonah, tried to run away from God’s wave and found out the hard way that ignoring God doesn't stop Him. He is the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end, and He will have His way. He invites each of us to be part of what He is doing.

 

Over the next few sessions, we'll explore sixteen individuals who chose to ride God’s wave and, in doing so, made history. These people were called prophets. I’ll be the first to admit that this final section of the Old Testament can be challenging to understand. The prophetic books are not arranged chronologically, and as we’ll discover, each prophet addresses a distinct audience. But before we dive in, let’s start with the basics.


I.       What is a prophet?

        

Exodus 7:1–2: Then the LORD said to Moses, 'See, I have made you like God to Pharaoh, and your brother Aaron will be your prophet. You are to say everything I command you, and your brother Aaron is to tell Pharaoh.'

  • Naba' (naw-baw'): To prophesy is to speak (or sing) by inspiration.
  • In general, there are two simplified approaches to prophecy:
  • 1.     Predictive – foretelling some future event or events.
  • 2.     A message from God applied to a specific situation in a specific time.
  • Biblical prophecy contains both elements, although most of the time, the main focus is on God's specific message to a particular people in a particular situation.   
  • Unfortunately, when people simply pick verses from the prophets and paste them together, it can create the impression that prophecy is just history written in advance.  
  • However, when you actually study the prophets, this concept of constant future prediction fades away. In reality, you often have to go through many chapters that have nothing to do with the future in order to find a single verse—or even part of a verse—that is predictive.
  • Why? Because most of the time, God is conveying His heart to address a specific circumstance. According to a quote from the Old Testament Survey book: 'A careful study of the prophets and their messages reveals that they are deeply involved in the current life and death of the nation. They speak...
  • - To kings and their idolatrous practices
    - To prophets who are for hire
    - To priests who failed to instruct
    - To merchants who are cheating their clients
    - To judges who are favoring the rich'
  •  This tells us that prophets were people who brought God's message—His word and His heart—to people across every level of society. Many times, the people God sent His prophets to were found in the darkest parts of society, meaning God placed His messengers right in the heart of people's struggles and difficult circumstances
  • In the New Testament, the apostle Paul makes several statements about prophecy in his epistles, clearly affirming that this spiritual gift is still active today. In his letter to the church at Corinth, he provides some insight into how prophecy works today.
  •    1 Corinthians 14:2–4: But everyone who prophesies speaks to men for their strengthening, encouragement, and comfort. Or as Jack Hayford would say: to build up, stir up, and lift up.
  • 1.      Strengthen: To build people’s faith by reminding them of the covenant God made with them. In this sense, all prophecy is rooted in their Mount Sinai experience, where God laid out His expectations in view of the covenant with Israel. Prophets are therefore seen as covenant enforcers. Coming judgment should not be a surprise, because God had already warned what would happen if they turned away from Him. But God also promised what would happen if they followed and loved Him with their whole hearts—they would experience His blessings.
  • 2.      Encourage or admonish: These words are used both positively and negatively. Prophets often brought messages of judgment because God's people were constantly in need of correction. But almost always, in the same breath, they delivered messages of hope—showing that if the people trusted Him, He would restore, renew, and heal them.
  • 3.      Comfort: This speaks to the tenderness of God's heart. Since creation, God has been working out His plan of redemption for humanity. Prophecy becomes a window through which we see and understand how God never gives up on His people, even when they fall into sin or lose their way. This reminds me of the promise Paul wrote in Philippians 1:6 That He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus

II.  Another word that is synonymous with the word prophet is the word seer.


1 Samuel 9:9 (Formerly in Israel, if a man went to inquire of God, he would say, 'Come, let us go to the seer,' because the prophet of today used to be called a seer.)

  • The Hebrew root word for seer simply means 'to see, observe, perceive.' Therefore, the prophet, in a sense, was given the ability to see the future outworking of God's plan. Unfortunately, seeing something from a distance is quite different from seeing something up close
  • A perfect example of this is when you are driving toward the Rocky Mountains. At one point, you see the mountain range spread out before you as a single entity. But as you get closer, you begin to realize that there are multiple peaks, sometimes separated by great distances.
  • Thus, one of the common challenges for the prophets of the Old Testament was this: when they looked ahead and saw the coming of God's purposes—the coming of God's kingdom—they often perceived it as a single event (like a distant mountain range). In reality, it was actually two events.
  • Jesus came proclaiming that the kingdom of God is now. But the kingdom had not yet arrived in its fullness. The complete fulfillment of God's kingdom would not occur until Jesus returns a second time.
  • So, from the New Testament perspective, the coming of God's kingdom is a two-event (two mountain peaks) process.

Iii.         Another question that arises: Is the prophetic office still in operation today?

  •  If you remember from a previous session, we talked about how the church experienced the fulfillment of the Old Testament feast of Pentecost when they were waiting together in Jerusalem for the Holy Spirit to come fifty days after Passover (the death and resurrection of Jesus). When the Holy Spirit came and fell on the early church, it caused quite a stir in Jerusalem.
  • It created such a commotion that the people of Jerusalem began to mistake it for something else! They thought these people had gotten into the ceremonial wine early in the morning. People began to accuse the disciples of being drunk. This then forced Peter to get up and give the true explanation for what was happening!
  • What Peter made clear was that what the people were seeing was, in fact, the fulfillment of the prophecy given by the prophet Joel: Acts 2:17-18: 'In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams. Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days, and they will prophesy.'
  • I want you to notice that the pouring out of the Holy Spirit was not just given for our own personal blessing but to enable all of us (men, women, young and old) to be part of a prophetic community of saints who would bring God's heart, his word, his message to a very needy world.
  • In other words, the gift of prophecy is available to every one of his followers. The apostle Paul confirms this in his letter to Corinth: 1 Cor 14:1: 'Follow the way of love and eagerly desire spiritual gifts, especially the gift of prophecy.'
  • From this verse and the whole book of Acts, one can conclude that every one of us is called to be an expression of the prophetic, in some fashion or form! We are called to bring the heart of God... his word... his message to everyone we are connected to—whether that be our family, children, friends, neighbors, fellow workers, or complete strangers we meet on the street.
  • It’s my belief that there are specific times in our lives when God literally sends us into dark places with a message of hope. In those situations, we are being sent to be change agents! Agents that bring about change in their neighborhoods, their cities, and even their culture.
  • There are also times in which God will send people to challenge the direction of their government or to confront problems and expose darkness. Also, God will send his people in times of crisis to strengthen the weak and bring hope to the hopeless.
  • Lastly, as we study the prophets, we can find encouragement by seeing how God took these very ordinary people and touched their lives in a very extraordinary way, and then used them in a supernatural way. Their very lives became the word made flesh. In other words, God's message was expressed not only through a person’s words but also by how they lived their lives.
  • Many times, throughout the Old Testament, prophets would dramatize their message by acting it out. For example: Isa 20:2-5: 'At that time the Lord spoke through Isaiah son of Amoz. He said to him, "Take off the sackcloth from your body and the sandals from your feet." And he did so, going around stripped and barefoot. Then the Lord said, "Just as my servant Isaiah has gone stripped and barefoot for three years, as a sign and portent against Egypt and Cush, so the king of Assyria will lead away stripped and barefoot the Egyptian captives and Cushite exiles, young and old, with buttocks bared — to Egypt's shame."'
  • Now hopefully, God will never ask any of us to do something like this! Nonetheless, we must be aware that God, at times, will not only ask us to speak his word but also demonstrate it by living it out.



IV.   Types of prophets and their corresponding chronological times


  • There are four types of prophets defined by who they were sent to speak to. Some were sent to...

           1.      Israel

           2.      Judah

           3.      Both

           4.  Gentiles

  • The prophets were also categorized by one of three time periods that they spoke and operated in...

            1.      Before exile

            2.      During exile

            3.      After exile

  • The next two pages give you an idea of both the time it operated in and who they were sent to...

Section Title

V.       The prophets and their burdens...

       A.      Prophets to the Nations


1. Jonah: Jonah operated around 785 BC.

  • Jonah was being sent to Nineveh — both the capital of Assyria and the most wicked city of that time — who would God send to bring judgment to Israel!
  • The book of Jonah continues the biblical story of the Creator and Redeemer God who shows compassion not only for his own, but also for all whom he has created. The God of Scripture loves his enemies and ours.
  • So, God called Jonah — the reluctant prophet — to go call this city to repentance.
  • But Jonah runs away... in the completely opposite direction! Why? Not because they would reject God, but because he knew God would forgive them... because God was so merciful.
  • This was the attitude of Israel toward the Gentiles — rooted in national pride that grew into a form of self-righteousness — thinking they were somehow better than everyone else. They had somehow come under the delusion that they had earned this place of being God’s people.
  • Of course, this was totally wrong! As we have seen, God's choice of Israel was purely an act of grace.
  • Nevertheless, Jonah fled God's calling on his life. So what does God do? He sends a storm. God goes, OK, I will make everybody around you recognize what I am doing — even the pagans.
  • But Jonah still doesn’t repent. God increases the storm — and he still doesn’t repent. So, God increases the storm once again — to the point that the whole crew, all unbelievers, knew something supernatural was going on.   
  • Finally, the crew goes and wakes up Jonah and explains what’s going on. Jonah knows right away it’s him — and offers to commit suicide. He would rather die than go back to what God is asking him. Talk about being stubborn! 
  • But God was not to be put off — so Jonah goes overboard, fully expecting to be drowned, when a big fish comes along and swallows him.
  • Meanwhile, the whole crew gets saved. Talk about working out all things for the good!
  • Now of course, there are many people who question if this really happened. Jesus certainly thought so...
  • Matt 12:39-41: He answered, 'A wicked and adulterous generation asks for a miraculous sign! But none will be given it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. 40 For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of a huge fish, so the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. 41 The men of Nineveh will stand up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it; for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and now one greater than Jonah is here.' 
  • Back to the story... Jonah is now in the belly of the fish, where he cries uncle — I surrender! He has a change of heart and returns to God.
  • So, the fish spews him forth — literally vomits him up — on dry land so that he can complete his mission.
  • I can relate to this. There are times where I have turned away from God, resulting in life getting really hard. I repent, and I get back on track, but I feel slimmed up by it all — as if I was just spewed out of the mouth of a giant fish.
  • Jonah goes to Nineveh and preaches — which causes the biggest revival in Old Testament history. The people were so intent on showing God how sincere their repentance was, they even dressed up the animals in sackcloth and ashes.     
  • Then do you know what Jonah did? He sat down and pouted. Again, he is reflecting Israel’s attitude toward people different than them.
  • God wants us to know all life is sacred and in need of God’s healing hand. And God is calling us to have the same compassion and concern for those around us!


2.  Nahum


  •  250 years later, we discover that Nineveh had fallen back into its old ways, and Nahum is now predicting their full destruction.
  • Nahum 1:2-3 The LORD is a jealous and avenging God; the LORD takes vengeance and is filled with wrath. The LORD takes vengeance on his foes and maintains his wrath against his enemies. The LORD is slow to anger and great in power; the LORD will not leave the guilty unpunished.
  •  Here we see the other side of God’s love. We see his holiness that cannot tolerate sin.
  • And boy, were they sinful!
  • Nahum 3:1-4 Woe to the city of blood, full of lies, full of plunder, never without victims! The crack of whips, the clatter of wheels, galloping horses and jolting chariots! Charging cavalry, flashing swords and glittering spears! Many casualties, piles of dead, bodies without number, people stumbling over the corpses - all because of the wanton lust of a harlot, alluring, the mistress of sorceries, who enslaved nations by her prostitution and peoples by her witchcraft.
  • Interesting to note, destruction did not come right away. There is a wait in God, but justice will come. This again is another glimpse into the grace of God, where he gives us time to mend our ways. But God will not be mocked; we will reap what we sow. God will bring justice to every situation.
  • And if Jonah had been around, he would have said, it’s about time!

 

                                                                           3.      Obadiah: worshiper of Jehovah (The shortest book)


  • This book probably happened soon after the fall of Jerusalem in about 586 BC.
  • This book speaks of the total destruction of Edom, who took pleasure in the calamity of God’s people.
  • Edom were the descendants of Esau. In other words, they were half-brothers and should not have found pleasure in the calamity of their brothers.
  • The message is clear: do not judge, for it will be the same to you.
  • There is, of course, a deeper meaning. Esau, in the New Testament, was seen as a type of the flesh life — where we want to do things in our own strength.
  •  Hebrews 12:16-17 See that no one is sexually immoral, or is godless like Esau, who for a single meal sold his inheritance rights as the oldest son. Afterward, as you know, when he wanted to inherit this blessing, he was rejected. He could bring about no change of mind, though he sought the blessing with tears.
  • The question we must always ask ourselves is: what house do we belong to? The house of Jacob or the house of Esau?
  • If we belong to the house of Esau, we are servants to our flesh. But if we belong to the house of Jacob, then we are servants to God. Romans seven expounds on this battle.

 

B.       Prophets to the Northern Kingdom (10 Tribes)

       1.      Elijah: My God is Jehovah

       2.      Elisha God is his salvation

       3.      Amos: burden bearer

  • Amos was a poor man who cared for sheep and sycamore trees. The sycamore trees bore fruit for the poor. So it is interesting that God called him to travel to worship in northern Israel, where the rich lived.
  • He was clearly shocked at the moral condition of the nation. Amos revealed the outrage of God at the injustice and oppression of the poor. Furthermore, God was upset at how complacent they had become and was calling them back to his values.
  • Amos went on to identify five areas of concern that they needed to repent from, or otherwise they would be taken captive and thrown into exile.

          1.       Religious syncretism, which means a blending between real faith and the religions that exist in the culture around them.

          2.      Liturgical formalism...

          3.      Oppression of the poor...

          4.      Fraud

          5.      Luxury at the expense of the poor, even though Amos was a poor country boy, he had quite a bite to his words!

  •  Amos 4:1 Hear this word, you cows of Bashan on Mount Samaria, you women who oppress the poor and crush the needy and say to your husbands, "Bring us some drinks!"
  • They thought living in luxury was the result of God's blessing in their life. How wrong they were! Their prideful attitude is clearly seen in how they responded to Amos's word...
  •   Amos 7:10-17 Then Amaziah the priest of Bethel sent a message to Jeroboam king of Israel: "Amos is raising a conspiracy against you in the very heart of Israel. The land cannot bear all his words.  For this is what Amos is saying: "'Jeroboam will die by the sword, and Israel will surely go into exile, away from their native land.'" Then Amaziah said to Amos, "Get out, you seer! Go back to the land of Judah. Earn your bread there and do your prophesying there.  Don't prophesy anymore at Bethel, because this is the king's sanctuary and the temple of the kingdom."  Amos answered Amaziah, "I was neither a prophet nor a prophet's son, but I was a shepherd, and I also took care of sycamore-fig trees. But the LORD took me from tending the flock and said to me, 'Go, prophesy to my people Israel.'  Now then, hear the word of the LORD. You say, 'Do not prophesy against Israel, and stop preaching against the house of Isaac.' "Therefore this is what the LORD says: "'Your wife will become a prostitute in the city, and your sons and daughters will fall by the sword. Your land will be measured and divided up, and you yourself will die in a pagan country. And Israel will certainly go into exile, away from their native land.'"
  • Clearly, they had a hard time receiving poor Amos' words. Yet within 50 years, his words had completely come to pass!
  • One of the most important truths being expressed here is that true religion and social justice must go hand in hand, or otherwise we are breaking covenant with God.
  • Lastly, Amos is also known for this famous prophecy:
  • Amos 9:11 "In that day I will restore David's fallen tent. I will repair its broken places, restore its ruins, and build it as it used to be..." Speaking of a time where anybody, anywhere, can come into the presence of God because of what Christ did on the cross!


4. Hosea: Salvation (A book that shows us what grace is all about!)


  • Hosea also prophesied in northern Israel.
  •  The very last series that I gave to my church right before I resigned so I could plant the Duluth Vineyard came from the book of Hosea. The title was: 'Grace, Grace and Even More Grace!'
  • There is no other book in the Old Testament that better expresses or makes clear the grace of God.
  • As seen in Amos, Israel was involved in spiritual adultery — where they were finding their security, safety, and life from every place but God.
  • In response to this, God called Hosea to a mission that was both special and very painful.
  • Hosea 1:2 When the LORD began to speak through Hosea, the LORD said to him, 'Go, take to yourself an adulterous wife and children of unfaithfulness, because the land is guilty of the vilest adultery in departing from the LORD.'
  • Can you imagine doing it? God wanted Hosea to feel and experience firsthand the anguish caused by an unfaithful spouse. And he wanted people to see that anguish so they would understand the pain of his own heart in response to what they were doing.
  • So, God sent Hosea to marry an adulterous wife and have children with her. Unfortunately, because of her wayward heart, not all the children were his. He even called one of them 'Not Mine!' Can you imagine being that child?
  • Finally, she leaves to pursue her other lovers, and Hosea is heartbroken.
  • Here is a clear example of what it means to be the incarnation of God's will toward people. Hosea literally became the word made flesh for Israel — of course, pointing to the time when Jesus, the Son of God, would come as the incarnation of God's word and walk among us.
  • Back to her story: just as Hosea was recovering and getting over his pain, God comes to him again. Hosea 3:1-3 The LORD said to me, 'Go, show your love to your wife again, though she is loved by another and is an adulteress. Love her as the LORD loves the Israelites, though they turn to other gods and love the sacred raisin cakes.' So I bought her for fifteen shekels of silver and about a homer and a lethek of barley. Then I told her, 'You are to live with me many days; you must not be a prostitute or be intimate with any man, and I will live with you.'
  • So off he goes and finds her being sold into slavery. He empties his bank account and food storage and redeems her.
  • What an amazing picture of the love God has for us. What grace, what mercy God has for us. Paul picks this up in his letter to the Romans when he says:
  •  Romans 5:20-21 But where sin increased, grace increased all the more, so that, just as sin reigned in death, so also grace might reign through righteousness to bring eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
  • Sometimes his grace and mercy are beyond what we can comprehend. Sometimes we think that kind of love is impossible, beyond human ability. And we are right — because God actually indicates the following passage:
  •  Hosea 11:1-10: 'When Israel was a child, I loved him as a son, and I called my son out of Egypt. But the more I called to him, the more he rebelled, offering sacrifices to the images of Baal and burning incense to idols. It was I who taught Israel how to walk, leading him along by the hand. But he doesn't know or even care that it was I who took care of him. I led Israel along with my ropes of kindness and love. I lifted the yoke from his neck, and I myself stooped to feed him. But since my people refuse to return to me, they will go back to Egypt and will be forced to serve Assyria. War will swirl through their cities; their enemies will crash through their gates and destroy them, trapping them in their own evil plans. For my people are determined to desert me. They call me the Most High, but they don't truly honor me. Oh, how can I give you up, Israel? How can I let you go? How can I destroy you like Admah and Zeboiim? My heart is torn within me, and my compassion overflows. No, I will not punish you as much as my burning anger tells me to. I will not completely destroy Israel, for I am God and not a mere mortal. I am the Holy One living among you, and I will not come to destroy. For someday the people will follow the LORD.'
  • He can express such amazing love and grace because he is God — far more than just mere man.
  • Remember the context here: the Northern Kingdom, who is so far from God that they can’t even produce one good king.
  • On the contrary, they were becoming more evil with every passing generation. Yet God sent them a message that they could not only hear but actually see. God loved them despite their wayward hearts!
  • In the end, Hosea’s message was really one of hope.
  • Hosea 14:1-5 Return, O Israel, to the LORD your God, for your sins have brought you down. Bring your petitions, and return to the LORD. Say to him, 'Forgive all our sins and graciously receive us, so that we may offer you the sacrifice of praise. Assyria cannot save us, nor can our strength in battle. Never again will we call the idols we have made "our gods." No, in you alone do the orphans find mercy.' The LORD says, 'Then I will heal you of your idolatry and faithlessness, and my love will know no bounds, for my anger will be gone forever!'
  • Special note: This is what we are called to — living a life for God in such a way that we communicate the hope we have in Christ! 

Final thoughts: What an amazing picture of God's love for us, beyond comprehension. Even after we have deliberately walked away from him, his love transcends anything we have ever seen.